Office of Veterans Business Development | Leadership

Office of Veterans Business Development

Barb Carson

Associate Administrator

Ms. Barbara Carson joined the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), in Washington, D.C, in June 2013. She is the Associate Administrator for the Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD), which aims to empower Veteran entrepreneurship. In this role, Ms. Carson oversees the OVBD team in formulating, implementing, administering and promoting policies and programs that equip veteran, service member (active duty, National Guard, Reserve), and military spouse owned small businesses with counseling and education, access to capital, and contracting opportunities.

Ms. Carson brings a unique perspective and first-hand insight to her position. She is currently a Colonel, U.S. Air Force Reserve, with more than 20 years military experience, assigned to the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs. Additionally, during a family military assignment to Japan in 2006, Ms. Carson embarked on her first entrepreneurial adventure where she co-developed an outdoor personal training business with another military veteran.

Prior to joining SBA, Ms. Carson served Headquarters, U.S. European Command (EUCOM) Office of Public Affairs in Stuttgart, Germany, in a unique opportunity to innovate communication. She worked with leaders in the EUCOM Operations Division to integrate efforts of the U.S. Department of State, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and non-government organizations in Europe to leverage social media and crowdsourcing in civil-military crisis response. Additionally, in EUCOM, she served as the Chief of Procedures for Nuclear Command and Control, late 2011 through May, 2013.

Ms. Carson earned a Master of Arts degree in Management from Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of Iowa. A Distinguished Graduate of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, she was commissioned as an active duty U.S. Air Force officer and has served in multiple assignments in the nuclear and public affairs career fields.